Career & Education

HEART, JFLL, NYS merger shows early signs of labour market success

Senior Director of Corporate Planning & Strategic Development at the HEART/Trust/NTA, Nicole Manning, says the merger of the training agency with the Jamaican Foundation for Lifelong Learning (JFLL), the National Youth Service (NYS) and the Apprenticeship Board, is already proving successful for the evolving business landscape.

The merger, which took effect on April 1, 2017, is now at an advanced stage, with plans for an expanded and more efficient HEART Trust/NTA to emerge as a single entity.

Speaking at a Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) Labour Market Forum at the Terra Nova hotel on Wednesday, Manning said the merger has allowed HEART to surpass its 2017-2018 targets for job placement for trainees.

“For the 2017-2018 fiscal year, because of the collaborative approach, we exceeded 90 per cent of our job placement goal and this can only be a win-win for everyone as the endgame for the organisation is to get young people working,” Manning said.

She further noted that as part of an effort to equip young people for work, HEART has placed renewed emphasis on integrating training and employment by working more closely with the business sector.

“If we are an agency responsible for the development of the human capital of Jamaica then we cannot separate the two (training programmes and industry) because if it is that individuals are going to be employed, they must have some level of training,” she argued.

Once complete, the merger is expected to allow for a broad range of opportunities for the development of Jamaica's human capital, while increasing opportunities and access points to deliver current and projected labour market demand programmes.

The PIOJ's 2018 Labour Market Forum was held under the theme: Enabling Growth & Development: Unlocking the potential of the Global Shared Services Sector.

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